Jokowis' son Kaesang for Jakarta governor? Indonesians fear president will bend rules to expand influence

If the administrative conditions can be met, I think Kaesang is one of the personalities we can nominate. [for the Jakarta gubernatorial election]. In my opinion, he is a very good figure, William Aditya Sarana, chairman of the PSI faction in the Jakarta parliament, said on March 27.

A 2016 law on regional elections requires candidates for governor and vice governor to be at least 30 years old, while candidates for mayor and deputy mayor, as well as regent and vice -regent, must be at least 25 years old. November 27, but Kaesang won't turn 30 until December.

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Indonesian Elections 2024: Will Indonesia vote in a political dynasty?

Indonesian Elections 2024: Will Indonesia vote in a political dynasty?

Reasonable suspicion

On social media, the PSI idea quickly sparked controversy, with some fearing the law could be circumvented to pave the way for Kaesang's candidacy.

In a controversial ruling, the court created an exception to the minimum age requirement of 40, allowing younger candidates to run provided they had already been elected to another office. This paved the way for Gibran, the mayor of Solo, to join Prabowos' campaign.

Looks like there are rotten intentions [here]. It is clear that Kaesang is not old enough, the PSI instead wants to appoint him governor of Jakarta. We have to stay tuned to see what kind of tricks they will use to make Kaesang a candidate for Jakarta governor. Will they use the [constitutional court] Also? asked user @StefanAntonio__ on X, formerly known as Twitter.

What he [Jokowi] what he has done so far is already very vulgar, in the interest of the election of his son as vice president. So if Kaesang runs [in the Jakarta gubernatorial election]Jokowi will certainly support him wholeheartedly, Firman said, referring to Widodo by his popular nickname.

Arya Fernandes, a political researcher at the Indonesia Center for Strategic and International Studies, said public concerns are justified and the possibility of the court changing the law to allow candidates under 30 to run in elections of governor if they are the head of a political party could not be excluded.

But there is precedent for this. In 2019, a PSI cadre named Faldo Maldini filed a petition with the court to change the age requirement because he was seeking nomination in the West Sumatra gubernatorial election, even though he was under 30 years. The court rejected the petition, Arya said.

So I think that with this post-presidential election situation, the court will be very careful. If the court suddenly grants it, despite precedent, people will question it.

Arya said Kaesang's potential appointment underscored a trend toward political dynasty within the Widodo family, with other members expected to run in local elections.

Kaesang's wife, Erina Gudono, may run for Sleman regent, while Widodo's son-in-law and Medan mayor Bobby Nasution has signaled his intention to join the race for North Sumatra governor.

Analysts said it made sense for Widodo to support Kaesang to lead Jakarta because the city remains a strategic seat of power, despite his administration's current efforts to develop a new capital from scratch in Borneo.

Jakarta remains the barometer of national politics. Historically, Jakarta governors became presidential candidates, Arya said, citing Widodo and Anies as examples. Anies served as governor of Jakarta from 2017 to 2022.

However, Firman argued that Jakarta voters were more rational and demanding than those in other regions, and that Kaesang was not a marketable figure in the capital given his lack of political experience.

In general, the base of supporters who believe that the governor of Jakarta should be someone like Anies is still very strong, and Kaesang is not yet in that category, he said.

In this year's elections, the Prosperous Justice Party, a nationalist Islamist party that supported Anies' presidential and Jakarta gubernatorial bids in 2017, won in Jakarta by more than one margin. million votes, more than any other party.